Comments on: Some Thoughts on Google vs China

By: simons1212

simons1212 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:19:43 +0000

Google's public "war" against so-called China's cyber-spying is nothing more than just a smoke screen for its dismay performance in China having fail to de-throne baidu.com.

Let's get this straight: Google is a business enterprise which is only answerable to its shareholders, not some "moral" guardian. By going out in such public manner, Google has only stab itself in the foot and be seen as another conduit for foreign power in the eyes of Beijing.

Btw, Japan's failure to become "superpower" is more to do with its constant pressure from Washington to toe its policies in form of economy and politics. E.g is the Yen which was raised dramatically in the 80s under US pressure for its huge trade deficit. This resulted in decade long economy stagnation. And in the political front, much of Asia still holds suspicions on post-WWII Japan.

China is another animal altogether.

By: Andre Siregar

Andre Siregar — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:26:54 +0000

It's interesting that Chinese internet companies can plan for success just by focusing on their internal market (which is larger than US and Europe combined). Going on a slightly different topic — is focusing on local a valid business strategy for internet companies of other countries? Thailand for example, also has language barrier like China and has a good size (although tiny compared to China). As opposed to Singapore companies, for example, which definitely need to look outside. On the other hand, country barriers are crashing down because of the internet, and there is economy of scale for a global company like Facebook. Can companies that focus on local/regional continue to survive?

Just my thoughts

By: Bernard Leong

Bernard Leong — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:45:53 +0000

Hi Andre,

Most Chinese internet companies do not have clout outside China. If we include the IT hardware makers that include Lenovo and Haier, the story is a bit different. In Singapore, Baidu and Tudou are on the top 100 of the Alexa sites, and my sense is that it will be similar for countries with a predominant high Chinese population. Most of the Chinese Internet web 2.0 services do not think about expanding outside China, because they have not exhausted the market potential of the entire country. Probably we will need another few years before these Chinese Internet companies get saturated and then perhaps, things may be different then.

By: Andre Siregar

Andre Siregar — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:23:53 +0000

Great post, Bernard.
Do Chinese internet companies have clout outside of China? Unline Toyota, Honda, etc. which dominated the US market in the 80's (still do now), I can't think of any Chinese companies that has significant mindshare in the global internet world. China may be the biggest market in the world, but I think before the US laments the inability of their companies to penetrate China, we should question Chinese companies' ability to dominate outside of China. The Great Firewall of China blocks in both directions.

By: The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 03

The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 03 — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:01:51 +0000

[...] – Who Moved My Singapore Cheese: Words of wisdom from a 59 year old taxi driver – Bernard Leong: Some Thoughts on Google vs China – Sg Pirate Game: Be hungry, be foolish – Brad’s Blog: Why did it have to be said? Singapore [...]

By: This Week in Asia Episode 13: The Google Showdown with China - This Week in Asia

This Week in Asia Episode 13: The Google Showdown with China - This Week in Asia — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:37:48 +0000

[...] different views (George Codula – who is coming as a guest on our show in the coming week, BL and Tangos Chan) on the issue and the official response from the Chinese government (Source: BBC [...]

By: postman pat

postman pat — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:15:27 +0000

No wants to play in a censored board where the house always wins, censorship, DDos attacks,cyber attacks, just means players will go elsewhere, govt should be aware of this.If they arent, then they should not be in govt. Google drew a line on the sand. Even if you care to take a look at some of our local characters, they have done the same, by relocating their servers up North.

Good on them, I say.

By: The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 14 Jan 2010

The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 14 Jan 2010 — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:07:48 +0000

[...] – Who Moved My Singapore Cheese: Words of wisdom from a 59 year old taxi driver – Bernard Leong: Some Thoughts on Google vs China – Sg Pirate Game: Be hungry, be [...]